Female Film Critics 24/375
For anyone who hears the name “E. Jean Carroll” and thinks “that woman who sued Donald Trump,” do yourself a favor and watch Ivy Meeropol’s engaging documentary Ask E. Jean sooner than later. Because, yes, Carroll did do that, but she’s also done so much more (let’s just say that you don’t get nicknamed “the female Hunter S. Thompson” for being boring), and she deserves to be just as well known for all of that, too.
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Ask E. Jean exceeded even those high expectations. I thought I knew E. Jean Carroll thanks to her landmark 2019 defamation lawsuit again Donald Trump but this comprehensive film delivers so much more. Elegantly edited by Leah Goudsmit and Ferne Pearlstein, Ask E. Jean follows Carroll’s early life and fascinating career as a prolific writer and advice columnist during the glory days of high end magazines. Through its archival footage of Carroll in the 80s and 90s and interviews with her today, the film puts sexual abuse, rape, harassment and the repercussions for women who report the crime into social and cultural context.
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In this documentary, filmmaker Ivy Meeropol never loses track of the connection between Roy Cohn and his mentee, Donald J. Trump, strengthening the link in the chain between the two as she films another chapter in Trump’s origin story. Bully. Coward. Villain. has the advantage of compassion, but it is still righteously damning.
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Programming for this year’s 57th New York Film Festival, held from September 15 to October 23, suggests that this highly regarded cinema showcase has little regard for the 5050×2020 gender parity initiative. Of the 66 feature films presented in this year’s 26-day schedule, just 11 were directed by women. That’s a mere 16.666666666667%, and a very long short fall from the 50/50 by 2020 goal. That said, the female-directed films that were showcased in this year’s NYFF program are absolutely brilliant. Here’s a run down.
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